Saving the White Cougar (Heart of the Cougar Book 9)

by Terry Spear

  He looked at all the flowers.

  "Either everyone who wanted to has already given me flowers, or you've chased them all off with bringing me meals and your own roses."

  He chuckled. "I had to do something to make you feel as though we hope your next visit to Yuma Town will be more peaceful and fun, and less painful and stressful."

  "You've done a great job with that. And so has everyone else. Even the clinic staff has been wonderful. This is so much different than if I'd had to go to a human medical facility."

  "It is. I'll take you home before we have lunch. Tracey's making something for everyone. We often do our own thing because she's busy with the kids, though when they get bigger, she vows to start doing some more of her work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services."

  "I heard her call out to the hunters that she was a special agent. I felt bad that I had brought trouble to the ranch. I hadn't thought that there might be women and children there, not to mention the danger to livestock because the hunters had come after me."

  "I don't think any of us would have believed they would do that. We were just glad we could stop them and come to your aid. Even though you weren't with the family, we still consider you family."

  She hadn't felt like she'd belonged anywhere for a long time. It felt good.

  Then Ted had to leave, but he kissed her on the forehead before he left, and she grabbed his hand and made him kiss her mouth too. After all he had done for her? She wanted to.

  Elsie came in and Ted finally ended the kiss, but not until after the nurse got an eyeful. He was definitely an alpha male.

  "I'll see you in a little while. When is Kate releasing her?" he asked.

  "She can go at eleven," Dr. Rugel said, coming into the room. He looked at the clock on the wall. "In four hours."

  "Good. We'll be in time for lunch at the house then." Ted said goodbye to everyone, then took off, texting on his phone as he went.

  Ted hurried to decorate the bunkhouse before he had to pick up Stella to take her out to the ranch. He just hadn’t had the time, or the inclination, but with being so restricted on duties, he figured he would get it done, now that Stella was here staying with him, and not just Kolby. He hated to admit he wanted to decorate for her—to make everything perfect.

  He draped fall leaf garlands across the fireplace mantle and hung a fall leaf wreath on the front door. He set out a big white pumpkin with a lantern and autumn foliage surrounding it in the center of the dining room table.

  He pulled out a couple of scarecrows to set out on the front porch and saw Tracey was out helping the kids paint faces on their pumpkins. Ted went over to see what she needed him to do.

  She smiled brightly. "You can help the kids with their painting."

  Ted frowned. That wasn’t what he had in mind.

  "Hal's helping Kolby with the horses. You can help me with the Halloween decorations. A bunch of our friends, Chase and Shannon, Travis and Bridget, Jack and Dottie, they'll all be over later to help do some more decorations for Halloween. You can help with that later."

  "Okay." He sat down on the ground with the kids, who were already covered in paint, and helped them to paint faces on their pumpkins.

  "I want a smiley face," Denise said.

  "Mine is sticking his tongue out," Liam said.

  Ted glanced at Tracey. She just smiled as she painted her own jack-o'-lantern.

  "No, not like that," Denise said as he painted a smile on her pumpkin. "She has a pink mouth, not red."

  Smiling, Ted shook his head.

  "Red and white paint mixed will give you pink," Tracey said.

  "I think this goes beyond my duties as foreman."

  Tracey laughed as Evan Chase sat on his lap, making it even more difficult to mix paint and apply a mouth to Denise’s pumpkin.

  "Blue eyes," Denise said.

  He made two blue eyes.

  "A pink nose."

  He added that. Then Tabitha handed her paintbrush to Ted and said, “Mine too.”

  Of course Hal and Kolby had to smile as they saw him sitting there painting a pumpkin and getting paint on himself too. Or maybe it was paint from Denise’s brush.

  Stella was so grateful to the staff who took care of her at the clinic and she left her flowers there so they could give them to anyone who would like them. When Ted arrived, he took her in a wheelchair to a black pickup truck. She hadn't expected that. She could walk, for heaven's sake, but when she tried to stand, she did feel a little woozy. He swept her up in his arms and put her in the truck.

  She frowned at him and smiled. "You have pink polka dots."

  "What?" He looked down at his hands and chuckled. "Hal is not letting me do a lot of work still and Tracey put me in charge of helping the kids paint pumpkins. I guess I missed some spots when I washed up."

  "That's funny. About my Jeep…," she said.

  "We can take it to the ranch, if you would like, or leave it where it is."

  "I don't want to put anyone out, but I would like it at the ranch so when I'm ready to go I can just leave."

  "Sure. I'll make sure we get it. No problem at all."

  She looked over the town as they headed out to the ranch and she thought how cute and well-maintained everything was: the sheriff's department, a park in the center of the town, a bakery, a boutique and everything was decorated for Halloween. When they finally reached the ranch, she realized just how big the place was with the main ranch house, a couple of barns, other outbuildings, and the bunkhouse, several horses, cattle, corrals, and a couple of dogs running around playing with each other.

  "Where are the kids?" She had been looking forward to seeing them.

  “I imagine the kids are taking their naps about now.”

  “Oh, okay.” Then she saw the cute pumpkins. "Did you paint all those?"

  "Unfortunately, yes. Have me paint a barn and I can do a great job. Fences? Same thing. Pumpkin painting? I'm totally out of my element."

  She laughed. "Well, I think you did an outstanding job and when you have kids someday, you'll have the technique down pat."

  "Hopefully, I won't have that many all at once."

  She smiled. "For your mate's sake, I would have to agree."

  She was going to get the door herself, but it was harder to do while wearing a sling. Suddenly he was there, opening her door, and lifting her out of the truck, then setting her on the ground. Her hero.

  While she'd been at the clinic wearing a clinic gown, the ladies had washed her clothes that had been in her car, but she realized she didn't have a change of clothes for tomorrow. No toiletries either.

  Ted took her inside the bunkhouse, and she was amazed to see how lovely it was. She'd halfway expected it to have used furniture, thrown in there for a bunch of raucous cowboys to sit on, but instead she found beautiful leather couches and chairs, paneled walls and bookshelves, a fireplace, large screen TV, a lovely kitchen with granite counters, stainless steel fridge, double sinks, island counter, a place that would be great for baking cookies or having a pizza party. Her apartment had a pint-sized kitchen so she was really wowed to see this one.

  The dining room was just as lovely with eight chairs seated at the long rectangular table. Horse statues and paintings added to the cheery bunkhouse.

  He showed her the guest bedroom first. "Kolby's room is down the hall and mine is the last one. I have the master bedroom suite. The bathroom is there, and Tracey picked up some things for you to use while you are here. Shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, body wash. And she bought you some clothes to wear also, judging on the size of the clothes they found in your Jeep."

  "Oh, how sweet of her. How did they get into my Jeep? They didn't break the lock, did they?"

  "No. Dr. Kate asked you when you were coming out of anesthesia what the combination was. We were able to get in after that."

  "Oh, I don't remember that. All you need to do is drug me and I'll give you anything, I guess."

  He smiled. "Tracey said we can j
oin them at the house for lunch, or if you think you would be more comfortable here where it's quieter, than she said we could do that. It's up to you."

  "After all she's done for me, I want to thank her for it. Let's go over to the house. Unless you're worried Tracey might make you paint more pumpkins."

  He chuckled. "Yeah, no telling." He walked Stella to the main house but kept an eye on her to make sure she didn’t get faint like she did when she was getting out of the wheelchair before she climbed into his truck.

  "Your bunkhouse doesn't look anything like what I expected."

  "Old worn-out furniture? Yeah, we had that."

  She raised a brow at him.

  “When Hal mated Tracey, she redid the main house and then came out to the bunkhouse to begin 'fixing' it up. We didn't know what to expect. And at first, we had to stay at the main house for a while. She had everything renovated, including a master bedroom and bathroom for the foreman, and redid all of the kitchen and the bathrooms. All new furniture throughout. We didn't know what we were missing out on until she redid everything. From the horse paintings to the statues, re-paneling the walls and floors, granite countertops, all new appliances in the kitchen. It made it a real home for us and a place we are proud of. The housekeeper keeps after the main house and the bunkhouse too, but we try to tidy up after ourselves also. Something my mother ingrained in us. My sister, Josephine, and brother—triplets—and I had to clean and cook and wash. Not just my mom and sister. It was a good lesson for us. I love to cook. Not just grill out of doors when the weather is nice. So it was great having a new kitchen."

  "That's wonderful. You should see my tiny apartment and kitchen."

  When they reached the house, Tracey ushered them in. "We're all ready for lunch."

  "Thanks so much for everything," Stella said. "You've all been so kind."

  "Will you shift for us?" one of her girls asked.

  "Yeah, Mommy said if we were extra good and you wanted to—" Then the boy's jaw dropped as he looked at Stella’s arm in a sling. "Oh, she said if you were still hurt, you couldn't."

  "I will be back for the Halloween party," she said. "I'll be fine by then. Though if I'm better tomorrow, I could remove the sling and test out shifting. No running as a cougar, but just to show you my white coat."

  "That's if she can," Hal said, coming down the hall from the bathroom, looking like he had just washed up for lunch.

  Kolby came in the front door. "Sorry, I'm late."

  "Where's Bill?" Stella asked.

  "I took him to the airport this morning before I had breakfast with you at the clinic. He meant to say goodbye, but he didn't want to mess up anything between us," Ted said.

  She frowned at him.

  "Hey, I didn't tell him anything was going on between us. He just assumed it. Anyway, he's a great brother." Ted smiled at her.

  She sighed. "I hope everyone's not going to too much trouble over me."

  "No, we're always glad to meet other cougars like us," Tracey said, as everyone helped set out the food.

  Chapter 6

  Later that afternoon, Stella had to take a nap. She wished she hadn't had to, because she wanted to see Ted and the others doing their cowboy work. But she could see why the doctors had wanted to keep her at the clinic another day. She needed the rest and she wanted to be recuperated enough to go to work on Tuesday.

  "You call us," Ted said, giving her his phone number and the Havertons'. Not Kolby's, she noticed. "When you feel up to it, you can come out and watch us."

  She smiled. "Thanks, I'd like that." She hadn't been expecting Koda and Zula, the Australian shepherds, to join her in the guest room. She thought they should have been out with the guys, working cattle or something. But they must have entered through the cougar door and had come to see her.

  She smiled at them. "What are the two of you doing in here? Hiding from work?" She thought of making them go outside and then she would lock the cougar door, if she had to, but they curled up next to her bed and they were so cute, she couldn't make them. She loved animals, loved dogs and cats, though her adoptive parents wouldn't let her have any growing up. And she couldn't have them at her apartment—no pets allowed. But whenever she would go to a park, she had to admire pet owners' dogs, talk to them, and pet them, if she could.

  She hoped the dogs wouldn't get into trouble. She figured Ted wouldn't be too upset with her if he learned where they were. And she hadn't made them leave the bunkhouse.

  It wasn't long after she laid down that she was sound asleep and dreaming about a beautiful day—though she thought she heard Ted chuckle softly under his breath, the dogs stir, but then he said, "Stay," and left the guest room. She thought that had happened, unless she was just dreaming it. She couldn't open her eyes and look for anything, she was so tired, and then her worst nightmare returned—hunters with her in their sights as she ran as a white cougar, up on top of the cliffs, down the other side, and racing through the tall meadow grasses for her life.

  Ted was glad Stella had decided to stay with them for a couple of days, but after lunch, she appeared so worn out, it had worried him. Maybe they'd pushed her a little too much. He didn’t want to have to return her to the clinic, but he would, if he thought she needed further medical care.

  He couldn't believe Koda and Zula had sneaked off to be with her. Well, sneak wasn't exactly the word he should use to describe their behavior. When Ted was sick and in bed during the day, they would curl up next to his bed, so it appeared they'd taken her in as one of their pack too. Which he thought was cute. The funniest thing was when he went looking for them, and Kolby had pointed to the bunkhouse, Ted had expected to see Stella awake and petting them, and not sleeping while they slept beside her bed. He wondered if she had known they were in there. They both raised their heads to acknowledge him, waiting for a command, and he whispered the command, "Stay," and motioned with his hand to emphasize he meant it. Then he left the guest room and went outside where Kolby was mounted and waiting for him to help with the cattle.

  "What were Koda and Zula doing?" Kolby asked.

  Ted smiled. "Sleeping next to the bed where Stella was sound asleep."

  Kolby glanced back at the bunkhouse as Ted mounted his horse. "And you didn't make them come with you?"

  "Nah, they have a job. They're protecting Stella. You know how it is if either of us get sick or injured. They stay with whoever is bedridden."

  Kolby smiled. "You're a pushover when it comes to Stella."

  "Isn't it true that they come to sympathize with us when we’re sick?" Ted asked as they rode off together.

  "Yeah, I hate to admit it, but you're right."

  Later, Ted was raking up the yard to make a pile of yellow, orange, and red leaves for the kids to play in. Sometimes work was just for fun. The kids all had their miniature rakes out. The rakes were adult quality with wooden handles and metal teeth, but kid-sized and the kids loved them. There was no time like the present to teach kids how to clean up things, but of course, they were going to play in the pile of leaves afterward, so that kind of ruined the notion of "cleaning up" the yard.

  The dogs had left the house to potty and were snapping at the leaves, every time Ted tossed a big pile of them on the mountain he was building.

  Still, it was one of his favorite fall adventures he played with the kids since they were preschoolers. He might be all business when he was teaching new ranch hands the ropes, but when he had a moment to play with the kids, he was doing it. And Tracey appreciated it. He noticed that not only was Kolby watching him, but the new hands were too. The one was a sixteen-year-old car thief, Jasper Holliday, that the CSF agent, Chet Kensington, brought to Yuma Town to face the consequences of his reckless behavior for stealing cars, and subsequently he was now working at the ranch as a hand, closely supervised by everyone.

  Chet raised his brows at the new ranch hands as if to say—don't you have a job to do? But they were getting too big a kick out of seeing this other side of him. Just
as he fell into the leaves and the kids pounced on him—instead of picking their own part of the leave pile to dive in, he saw Stella watching him and smiling. The dogs were barking and in on the muddle with them right away.

  He chuckled. Caught in the act. He got out of the leaves and brushed them off his clothes, then headed over to see Stella, handing the rake to Kolby on the way there. "Teach the other ranch hands how to rake, will you?"

  Kolby laughed. "I didn't ever think you'd let me play in the leaves with the kids."

  Ted smiled and joined Stella on the porch.

  "Hey, you guys, believe me, this is a new side of Ted you rarely see. Enjoy it while you can," Kolby told the new ranch hands.

  “How are you feeling?” Ted asked Stella, taking hold of her hand.

  “I’m feeling much better, thank you.”

  Earlier, he had been breaking a horse, which he figured she would have been more interested in seeing since she seemed fascinated with anything cowboy related. He would like to show off his ranching skills. Giving the four-year-old Haverton children pony rides or raking leaves wasn't exactly the kind of work real cowboys usually did.

  Kolby was raking the leaves onto the pile and the other ranch hands were using the small rakes to help him. Tracey finally came outside to have the kids take their naps, and the guys were left to fill giant pumpkin bags full of leaves. At the end of Halloween, they would run the leaves through the mulcher and have mulch for Tracey’s gardens in the spring.

  Stella smiled. "That was so cute. I saw you giving the kids horseback rides. They sure learn to ride young."

  "Yeah, I was the same age when I learned how to ride. I never thought anything of it. It was like riding a bike." He smiled at her, glad she didn't think it was too silly of him. He enjoyed playing with the kids. And he was making them future riders, maybe even cowboys and cowgirls. Though they might go into their mom or dad's line of work—working at the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service or with the sheriff's department. Then he noticed Stella was not wearing the sling any longer.